


The Beginning and the End

by sksdwrld



Series: Comment_Fic and Drabble-prompt fills [24]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Death, Existentialism, Gen, POV Second Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-06
Updated: 2014-03-06
Packaged: 2018-01-14 17:07:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1274404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sksdwrld/pseuds/sksdwrld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What lies beyond is anyone's guess.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Beginning and the End

You always thought that death was was the period at the end of a novel to which there was no sequel. You told yourself that when all was said and done, when the light had gone out, when there were no breaths left to breathe, there would be blackness. No, less than blackness, because blackness was something and death was nothing. An abyss in which you would not float, because that implies consciousness.

It should come as no great surprise to you that you were wrong, but still, this is not at all what you might have expected, should you have ever contemplated any other fate. There are no ghosts in drag, singing the praises and glories of God. There are no flickering flames or piercing cries of those impaled on spikes.

It has taken you some time to come to the conclusion that you are, in fact, dead. It only took the replaying of your life events on the wall before you three times before you realized that this was not a sick joke imparted by your friends, and mostly because none of said friends have arrived to laugh at your expense. There is no other conclusion. You are dead and you are in some sort of afterlife, which may or may not be limbo, although it is definitely not heaven and may possibly be a lower level of hell, based on your inability to access the internet.

You know this much-you are in a chamber of sorts which seems devoid of a light source and yet is perfectly navigable; you are neither cold not hot nor hungry nor thirsty and you appear immune to pain. You appear to be corporeal but had no sense of self until you questioned what you were wearing (which appears to be pyjamas).

There are two tunnels that snake away from sight. There are no sounds, smells, or other indications as to which may be the better path. The way you see it, you have two choices: you can watch your former life loop endlessly or you can forge on into the great unknown.

You weigh your options carefully, because you may be committing yourself to eternal damnation with one wrong-footed step and you have never been one for needless suffering, especially your own. You have never been one for self-torture either, and living your life this first time through was enough. You are halfway through your fifth viewing and this very well could kill you, if you weren't dead already, except that you are.

You are dead and gone, alone but not lonely, nothing and something, nowhere yet somewhere. You are uncertain but not confused, calm but not complacent, questioning but not curious. You must go on. You realize this, as though the knowledge has been bequeathed directly into your consciousness. Right or left doesn't matter: choice is an illusion-and not because what lays beyond is predetermined, but because the outcome doesn't matter.

This is about the journey and death is just the beginning.


End file.
